tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post7244882437500871127..comments2024-03-28T20:36:33.364-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Pulp Fantasy Library: A Princess of MarsJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-37733846290645114562012-02-11T10:19:00.210-05:002012-02-11T10:19:00.210-05:00Burroughs did address social issues FREQUENTLY is ...Burroughs did address social issues FREQUENTLY is his novels you just have to look for his satire . . .. . <br /><br /> “In one respect at least the Martians are a happy people; they have no lawyers.” (PM, IX). <br /><br /><br />When The Lord of the Green Dragons asked E G G <br />what books he should read as inspiration for DnD he handed him the Barsoom series .. .<br /><br />free at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62<br /><br />this is according to an interview posted by Hill CantonsClovis Cithoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18208194219083373456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-34916856245390130702011-07-20T19:33:12.995-04:002011-07-20T19:33:12.995-04:00Stranger, you didn't read very closely fifteen...Stranger, you didn't read very closely fifteen years ago, if you thought you were reading about "Random Carter", the "everyday guy" or "cowboy." Looks like you skimmed at best.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-87620395915808598152011-03-12T06:38:53.595-05:002011-03-12T06:38:53.595-05:00I came across APoM fifteen years ago. After browsi...I came across APoM fifteen years ago. After browsing through a few pages, I dropped it without a second thought. There was something in that book which made me feel awkward. But what was it?<br /><br />For starters, Carter travels to Mars by having a fainting fit in a random cave. Unlike Buck Rogers, it doesn't seem to make sense at any rate. Burrough's could and should had bothered to make up some sort of device. A flying saucer, an star gate, an alien monolith, a magic carpet, you name it. <br /><br />What else? "I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I knew that I was on Mars". It should read "I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I knew that I wasn't on Earth". As written, it implies that Random Carter, the everyday guy, can identificate any planet at first sight -even if it happens to be an unkown world "where no man has been before". <br /><br />It would made sense if Carter was a seasoned astronaut, rather than a cowboy; otherwise, it's just fodder for disbelieving.<br /><br />What about the natives? Four-armed greenskin ogres... that's not very imaginative, but not entirely bad either -at least, they are not English-speakers. But now it comes a bare-breasted redhair dimsel. And I was looking forward for H.G. Wells' skiddies: what a dissapointment! <br /><br />Anyway, I couldn't force myself to read further. I jumped to the last page, in which Carter is back at Earth, save and alive -no spoilers in here, is clear from the introduction that eventually he makes his way home-. As a matter of taste, APoM does't appeal to me. I'm afraid that it's down below my standards.anonimous, emperador en el exiliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13204169087393199959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-28025510328019336072011-02-10T13:33:37.965-05:002011-02-10T13:33:37.965-05:00I love this series. Love, love, love. Since I wa...I love this series. Love, love, love. Since I was a kid. Classic pulp adventure.<br /><br />While Burroughs doesn't go in for the big questions in here, the simple chivalric and heroic tenets lived by John Carter (and later other protagonists like his son Carthoris or Gahan of Gathol) were definitely inspiring. And I can't deny that in moments of depression or doubt I've repeated to myself Carter's cry of defiance when he was at his blackest points, locked in some stygian pit- "I still live!"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-33583956041737544322011-02-10T12:54:41.957-05:002011-02-10T12:54:41.957-05:00You actually have a Frank Schoonover cover Princes...<i>You actually have a Frank Schoonover cover Princess of Mars? Color me jealous. </i><br /><br />Yeah, picked it up years ago at a big used bookstore in downtown Detroit, of all places. Sadly, the book wasn't in the best shape.Desdichadohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14774274812688958457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-42899261420867890402011-02-10T02:58:28.427-05:002011-02-10T02:58:28.427-05:00There is/was a recent comics adaptation from IDW. ...There is/was a recent comics adaptation from IDW. I read the first issue. It is Wretched. Avoid it. <br /><br />IMO, this is one of ERB's very best books, it a has a lurid dream like quality which I think is missing form some of his later efforts. Also, everyone is eternally youthful and naked.Aoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00145284080419502886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-65005317317245024192011-02-08T09:29:54.982-05:002011-02-08T09:29:54.982-05:00Hey, that's the cover of the copy I have! I...<i>Hey, that's the cover of the copy I have! I'd never actually seen that until I found it in a used bookstore.</i><br /><br />You actually have a Frank Schoonover cover Princess of Mars? Color me jealous.Pulp Herbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02486803457210325703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-4186659462779193962011-02-08T07:25:44.569-05:002011-02-08T07:25:44.569-05:00Hey, that's the cover of the copy I have! I&#...Hey, that's the cover of the copy I have! I'd never actually seen that until I found it in a used bookstore.<br /><br />Before buying it, the version I'd get at my library (which I checked out several times) was with the Frazetta cover.Desdichadohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14774274812688958457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-41527276827488407422011-02-07T23:39:59.814-05:002011-02-07T23:39:59.814-05:00Cool review, James! Personally, I think that ERB d...Cool review, James! Personally, I think that ERB did look at a lot of Big Questions throughout his career, just not very much in APoM. Burroughs favorite method of attack was to use satire. By creating outlandish societies (much like Swift), he was able to focus on, and poke fun at, our own foibles while still delivering headlong, imaginative adventure.Deucehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00240457596421236288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-69327860721063400792011-02-07T21:39:26.839-05:002011-02-07T21:39:26.839-05:00Barsoom was the first fantasy world I was ever int...Barsoom was the first fantasy world I was ever introduced to - even before Middle Earth. Swords of Mars was the first fantasy-adventure story I ever read.Cord the Seekerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15768966473685556824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-83471746623502843942011-02-07T11:01:07.078-05:002011-02-07T11:01:07.078-05:00I love Barsoom...more than any other thing D&D...I love Barsoom...more than any other thing D&D introduced me (except, perhaps, Jirel of Jory) there is nothing I love more. Glad to see it finally arrive here.<br /><br /><i>I find few insights into the human condition or the Big Questions in A Princess of Mars, but so what? Sometimes, being transported to another world, where an honorable fighting man from Virginia can win the love of a princess is more than enough reason to read a story. </i><br /><br />I think you sell Burroughs and similar fare short. John Carter and other escapist fantasy too often appeals to an idealized self we wish we could be. <br /><br />Even less adventurous entertainment, such as Lawrence Block's Scudder novels, do the same. I don't want to be an divorced alcoholic living in a single room in the Bowery working as an unlicensed PI, but I wish I could be like Scudder (who that accurately describes, at least in the early novels) just as much as I want to be like John Carter.<br /><br />What is common to both and to other escapist stories that I read is the character's moral choices, character, and abilities that allows them to overcome all those are ideals I want to live up to.<br /><br />I'd say that's a pretty big insight, into myself if not the entire human condition.Pulp Herbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02486803457210325703noreply@blogger.com